Invisible Apple Cake
A dozen years ago I first tried my mother-in-law’s recipe for apple sharlotka (which family just calls “apple thing”), a lightly sweetened apple dessert that’s as much a thick crêpe as it is a cake. It’s got a short ingredient list and is the kind of thing you make on a whim. It’s so rustic and simple, I honestly didn’t expect it to cause a ruckus — it’s not apple pie, crumb cake, or even my mom’s doorstop of an apple cake — but my family and friends surprised me. They truly loved it. So where does this come in? I think of this as Sharlotka 2.0: Fancy Pants Edition.
A few years ago, I began spotting recipes around for gâteau invisible or invisible apple cake, named because the apples seem to disappear. I was stunned by their beauty. But I was even more fascinated when I realized how close the recipe was to sharlotka: They’re both mostly comprised of apples tethered by a simple batter of one cup of flour, three eggs, and one cup, or a little less, of sugar. The French version adds milk, which I found makes the batter softer. Some included baking powder, but I tested it with and without it, and did not find it to provide any notable lift. And some include a melted tablespoon or two of butter, which I see no reason to say no to.
The biggest difference is how the apples are cut — thin, very thin. Once you mix them with the batter, you can just pour it into the pan and shimmy the mixture as flat as possible. It’s going to still look great this way, but you likely won’t fit it all since they’re not as tightly packed. For a prettier appearance and a fuller cake use clean hands to arrange the apples slightly overlapped around the pan and spiral them into a flower in the center, which I couldn’t resist. I finished mine with a simple apricot jam glaze, but you can make yours with a salted caramel sauce, which would be incredible.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 to 1/2 pounds (1 to 1.15kg) apples, such as Granny Smith or Mutsu
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk, any kind
- 2 tablespoons (40 grams) apricot preserves or apple jelly, warmed
- Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)